How many People own Working Reel to Reel Decks?

Tbg,

good to see you at RMAF, sorry we did not have time for much discussion.

for a guy who pursues the ultimate music reproduction performance without compromise; you have twice in this thread mentioned that RTR is the best sound but also a pain-in-the-ass. did some RTR guy kick sand in your face as a kid, or something?

of course; you have also sworne off vinyl too as being too much trouble.....and accepted the 'dark side' as your exclusive music source.

i'm just 'outing' you as an analog crumodgeon so you don't scare others into thinking RTR is a pain; it's not. mounting a tape is easy and actually less stressfull than cueing an Lp in most ways.

we do agree about the performance; RTR is second to nothing regarding music reproduction.

Hello,
I myself, and many friends I have made on Audio Asylum, Audio Karma, Tapeheads.net etc....all have fully calibrated up to spec units, that we use regularly, and make tapes for oneanother and mail to eachother, to listen to eachothers tapes. I also buy prerecorded tapes from years ago, that sound fantastic. I dont buy the overpriced Tapetrail tapes, but instead make my own, from my very high end turntable, thus keeping all of my recordings fully analog, and they sound as good as the source. A great way to back up your existing vinyl collection, and get hours of listening time. I highly recommend. I also know several Tape Technicians that specialize in restoring Reel to Reels, and have lots of NOS parts for the units, like Tandberg, TEAC, Pioneer, Revox, etc....Ray

hi Ray,

i think you and i agree on most things; particularly on our shared enjoyment of tape. i do have a different viewpoint on 2 things though.

I dont buy the overpriced Tapetrail tapes

i assume by 'Tapetrail' you mean The Tape Project

if you want 'fully licensed' 15ips 1/4" 1.5 generation master dubs, made from the 'original master tapes', dubed to a 1" working master and then dubbed on master recorders, then it will cost you. when someone offers anything remotely as good for less then you can say they are overpriced. i agree that they are not inexpensive.

instead make my own, from my very high end turntable, thus keeping all of my recordings fully analog, and they sound as good as the source.

even The Tape Project tapes are 1.5 generation; there is a difference between the 1" working master of the original and the 1/4" tape master dubs. and this is with all master recorder level decks using the original master tapes. using a 'good' tt as a source, then dubbing onto 'broadcast/prosumer level decks' will make good tapes, but not 'as good as the source' and certainly not close to what the Tape Project tapes sound like.

the original Lp will always be better than a tape of it.....the degree of accuracy of the tape will vary with every step in the chain. the tape dub of an Lp will introduce a certain 'tape' sound which is nice but will lose a degree of dynamic range from the recording process too. personally, i'll take the original Lp. in any case, the tape will sound different than the Lp....a bad thing to me.

i'm not trying to rain on your parade; but at the top of the analog performance food chain, whether vinyl or tape, there is varible performance based on the quality of everything. when you step up to the top level there are benefits. it's not for everyone. but for those who do participate in The Tape Project, the additional sonic performance is worth it.

i've compared every Tape Project tape to the best Lp pressing of that same performance on my Rockport tt. the Tape Project tapes pretty much smoke any Lp. a tape made from those Lps even on my Rockport would not be quite as good as the Lp, let alone as good as The Tape Project tape.

I've compared every Tape Project tape to the best Lp pressing of that same performance on my Rockport tt. the Tape Project tapes pretty much smoke any Lp. A tape made from those LPs even on my Rockport would not be quite as good as the LP, let alone as good as The Tape Project tape.

Agree, I have two tape machines now, Technics 1520 and Studer A810 Mk2, both smoke any turntable ever made. The real problem is availability of software.

There are easily several hundred thousand great LPs but every tape title ever made on open reel would amount to perhaps a few hundred. To reach that total some would be the terrible 3.75 IPS commercial tapes from 1960s found used Flea Bay :^).

That being said, I will not give up on open reel tape, it's wonderful to have a reference source that's clearly several steps closer to perfection so I can "reset" my standards button when evaluating various turntables, arms and cartridges.

Hi Mike,

I think you misunderstood me. I didn't mean the source as being the master tape. I meant the source as being my vinyl front end, or any other source I am recording. Not only me, but just about all the fellow tapeheads I associate with, cannot tell the difference from tape and source when listening. All of our tape decks have been fully spec'd or better. I use a guy that was Tandberg USA Factory Service Tech. in NYC, and he does many Open Reel machines for very wealthy people like doctors and lawyers, all very wealthy audiophiles. Maybe with measuring equipment you could tell a difference, but with our own hearing, we cannot, our decks are just that good. Maybe your hearing is better than all of ours, thats very possible, but I can speak for many of us, all with same results. None of us are using decks that we just bought in working condition, all have been completely gone through with a fine tooth comb, to the best that they can perform, and biased to todays higher biased tapes. Thats what im referring to when I made my statement. Ray